Side-mounted adjustable ditcher



March 13, 1962 Filed July 22, 1960 I v. CRAMER 3,024,546

SIDE-MOUNTED ADJUSTABLE DITCHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Elli-1w IN VEN TOR.

LEONARD V. CRAMER BY HwwM BM ATTORNEY March 13, 1962 v. CRAMER 3,024,546

SIDE-MOUNTED ADJUSTABLE DI'iCHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 22,1960

INVENTOIR. LEONARD V. CRAMER MGM ATTORNEY March 13, 1962 v. CRAMER SIDE-MOUNTED ADJUSTABLE DITCHER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 22, 1960 LEONARD V. CRAMER MBHM ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,024,546 SIDE-MOUNTED ADJUSTABLE DITCHER Leonard V. Cramer, RR. 6, Martinsville, Ind.

Filed July 22, 1960, Ser. No. 44,675 Claims. (Cl. 37-86) The present invention relates to a side-mounted, adjustable ditcher and is particularly concerned with the provision of an attachment for known machines, whereby a ditch or trench may be produced upon any line within a predetermined range between a line within the tread of the vehicle and a line offset laterally outwardly from either side of that tread.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the character under consideration which is readily and quickly shiftable, by power means and Without affecting other parts of the equipment, between a carrying position, in which the attachment will not interfere with normal operation of the equipment, and any one of a plurality of working positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such an attachment which may be easily arranged to work during either forward transit or rearward transit of th carrying vehicle.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an attachment of the character described which may be quickly adjusted to vary the trenching depth or may be quickly and easily withdrawn from the trench to permit inspection, hand work in the trench or any other operation in the trench, without moving the carrying equipment away from the trench or out of alignment with the trench.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of my attachment, in one working position, the carrying vehicle being shown fragmentally;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing my attachment in carrying position;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the equipment in the position of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the equipment showing the parts in another position of adjustment; and

FIG. 6 is a side view illustrating still another working position of the equipment.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that I have illustrated a conventional tractor indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 and provided with a boom 11 carrying a loader bucket 12, fluid motor means 13 being provided for vertically swinging the boom 11 and a pair of fluid motors 14 being provided for manipulation of the bucket 12 upon the boom. At least at its distal end. the boom 11 comprises a pair of parallel, laterally spaced bucket lift arms 15 and 16, as is most clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The structure as so far described is conventional and forms no part of my invention, when considered alone.

According to the present invention, a bearing means 17 is secured to the lower edge of the arm 15 and a similar bearing means 18 is similarly secured to the arm 16 in coaxial alignment with the bearing means 17. As shown, said bearing means provide merely coaxial bores 19 and 20, but it will be appreciated that anti-friction bearings 3,024,546 Patented Mar. 13, 1962 may, if desired, be inserted in the bores 19 and 20. A tube or rock shaft 21 is journalled adjacent its opposite ends in the bearing means 17 and 18, said tube, in the illustrated form of the invention, being formed with a straight-through, cylindrical passage 22. At least adjacent its opposite ends, however, the tube is provided with an internally polygonal section; and, as illustrated, a convenient means for accomplishing this end comprises a pair of collars 24, 24 welded respectively to the opposite ends of the tube 21 and internally squared as at 23.

At one end, and as shown, adjacent the arm 16, the tube 21 extends outboard beyond its supporting bearing means and there carries lever means indicated generally by the reference numeral 25, non-rotationally fixed to the tube 21. Conveniently, and as illustrated most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 4, the lever means 25 may comprise a pair of discoid plates 26 sleeved on and suitably secured to th projecting end of the tube 21, each such plate being formed to provide a radially extending arm 27. The arms 27 are spanned by a journal pin 28 upon which is mounted, between the arms 27, a sleeve 29 to which is fixed the projecting end of the piston rod 30 of a fluid motor 31. The rear end of the cylinder 32 of the motor 31 is swiveled upon a pivot pin 33 fixed to the arm 16 as is most clearly to be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. Of course, the piston rod 30 is secured to a piston (not shown) reciprocably mounted in the cylinder 32; and suitable fluid connections (not shown) for the double acting motor 31 will extend to the conventional fluid pressure system of the tractor 10.

It will be obvious from an inspection of FIG. 1 that reciprocatory action of the piston rod 30 of the motor 31 will oscillate the tube or rock shaft 21 about the common axis of the bearing means 17 and 18; and, as will be seen by comparison of FIGS. 3 and 6, that oscillation may extend through a range of almost A beam 34 is telescopically receivable in the passage 22 of the tube 21 from either end thereof; and said beam is polygonal in cross-section to conform to the internal contour of the collars 24 so that, when said beam is so mounted, it" is non-rotationally, but axially-adjustably, supported from said tube. It will be seen that, in effect, the tube 21 is formed with oppositely-opening sockets for the selective reception of the beam 34, at its opposite ends. If desired, means (not shown) may be provided for securing the beam axially with respect to th tube 21 in any desired position of telescopic adjustment; but my experience has been that such securing means is not requisite.

At its distal end, the beam 34 carries a ditcher or trencher head indicated generally by the reference numeral 35, said head comprising an elongated frame 36 which is non-rotationally fixed, adjacent one end, to the distal end of the beam 34. A sprocket 37 is journal mounted on the frame 36 adjacent said one end thereof and preferably substantially coaxial with the tube 21. Adjacent its opposite end, the frame 36 carries an axle 38 upon which is supported an idler sprocket 39; and a continuous ditcher chain 40 is trained over the sprockets 37 and 39. The frame 36 may be extensible, in accordance with conventional practice, for adjustment of the tension of the chain 40.

Fixedly secured to the frame 36 adjacent its proximal end is a reduction gear 41 which is driven by a reversible fluid motor 42 suitably supported from the gear unit and operatively connected to drive the sprocket 37 through said reduction gear.

In FIG. 1, the equipment of the present invention is shown working in a trench 43 spaced laterally to the right of the tread of the tractor 10, with the tractor mov: ing forwardly. The chain 40 is being driven in a counterclockwise direction to cause the blades or shovels 44 on the chain to rise against the face 45 of the trench, extending the trench as the tractor applies feeding force to the ditcher head by its movement toward the right. The motor 31, having been adjusted, will hold the frame 36 in its illustrated angular relationship to the boom 11, while the motor 13 will hold the boom against downward movement.

It will be apparent that, if desired, the beam 34 could be shifted, relative to the tube 21, either to move the ditching line farther to the left as viewed in FIG. 2 or to move the ditching line closer to, or even within, the tread of the vehicle as illustrated in FIG. 4.

In FIG. 3, the ditcher attachment is illustrated in nonuse or carrying position. By retracting the piston rod 30 from its position of FIG. 1, the tube 21, and therefore the beam 34, has been turned in a clockwise direction to swing the distal end of the frame 36 from the position of FIG. 1 upwardly to the position of FIG. 3. In the latter position, it will be seen, the ditcher attachment is wholly above any position occupied by the bucket 12, so that the loader equipment, comprising the boom 11, the bucket 12 and the motors 13 and 14, may be used in a normal manner without any interference whatever from the ditcher attachment.

In FIG. 5, I have illustrated the equipment in position to start a ditch by plunging the attachment into the ground. As will be seen, the frame 36 is positioned with respect to the boom 11 substantially in the relation of FIG. 1, but the boom is so elevated as to raise the distal end of the ditcher attachment above the ground. Now, if the motor 42 is energized to drive the chain 4-0 in a counterclockwise direction, the boom 11 may be gradual- 1y lowered, whereupon the distal end of the ditcher attachment will be plunged into the ground, the blades 44 cutting their way as the boom is forced downwardly to the position of FIG. 1. Once the distal end of the ditcher has thus been forced to the desired level, the tractor may be driven forwardly and the ditcher attachment will begin to form the desired trench.

In FIG. 6, I have illustrated the equipment arranged for ditching during reverse movement of the tractor 10, the above-described plunging operation having just been completed. In this arrangement of the parts, the chain has been reversely mounted on the sprockets 37 and 39, and the motor 42 will be reversely operated to drive the chain in a clockwise direction. Because the position of the ditcher head 35 relative to the boom arms 15 and 16 may be so readily varied through such a wide range, the equipment is highly flexible in operation. Thus, if the ditcher should encounter an obstruction such as, for instance, the sewer pipe 46, the operator, by manipulation of the motor 31, can quickly shift the head 35 in a clockwise direction to raise the distal end of the path of the teeth 44 sufficiently to pass over the obstruction without damage thereto. Once the obstruction has been cleared, the motor 31 will readily force the distal end of the ditcher head downwardly to the previous level. If desired, the machine may be stopped at any point during passage of the obstruction, and the ditcher head may be elevated to or toward the position of FIG. 3 in order to facilitate inspection of the trench and, if desired, hand clearing of the region directly adjacent the obstruction, without moving the tractor away from the work or out of alignment with the trench line.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a vertically-swingable boom provided with transversely-extending journal mounting means thereon, of a beam supported in said mounting means for oscillation about the axis thereof with one end of said beam projecting outboard beyond said mounting means, a ditcher head fixedly supported from said one end of said beam and comprising a frame, sprockets journal mounted on said frame adjacent opposite ends thereof, a continuous ditcher chain trained over said sprockets, and motor means carried by said frame and operatively connected to drive said chain.

2. The combination with a vertically-swingable boom provided with transversely-extending journal mounting means thereon, of a beam supported in said mounting means for oscillation about the axis thereof with one end of said beam projecting outboard beyond said mounting means, lever means operatively connected to said beam and extending radially therefrom, a fluid motor comprising a cylinder element and a piston element re ciprocably mounted in said cylinder element, one of said elements being operatively connected to said boom and the other of said elements being operatively connected to said lever means whereby opposite reciprocation ofsaid piston in said cylinder produces opposite oscillation of said beam about the axis of said mounting means, a ditcher head fixedly supported from said one end of said beam and comprising a frame, sprockets journal mounted on said frame adjacent opposite ends thereof, a continuous ditcher chain trained over said sprockets, and motor means carried by said frame and operatively connected to drive said chain.

3. The combination with a vertically-swingable boom provided with transversely-extending journal mounting means theron, of a beam axially adjustably supported in said mounting means for oscillation about the axis thereof with one end of said beam projecting outboard beyond said mounting means, a ditcher head fixedly supported from said one end of said beam and comprising a frame, sprockets journal mounted on said frame adjacent opposite ends thereof, a continuous ditcher chain trained over said sprockets, and motor means carried by said frame and operatively connected to drive said chain.

4. The combination with a vertically-swingable boom provided with transversely-spaced, axially-aligned bearing means thereon, of an open-ended tube journalled in said bearing means, said tube being internally polygonal at least near its opposite ends, lever means rotationally fixed to said tube and extending radially therefrom, a fluid motor comprising a cylinder element and a piston element reciprocably mounted in said cylinder element, one of said elements being operatively connected to said boom and the other of said elements being operatively connected to said lever means whereby opposite reciprocation of said piston in said cylinder produces opposite oscillation of said tube about the axis of said bearing means, a beam conforming in cross-section to the polygonal internal contour of said tube telescopically and non-rotationally supported in said tube with one end of said beam extending outboard beyond said bearing means, a ditcher head fixedly supported from said one end of said beam and comprising a frame, sprockets journal mounted on said frame adjacent opposite ends thereof, a continuous ditcher chain trained over said sprockets, and motor means carried by said frame and operatively connected to drive said chain.

5. The combination with a tractor provided with a loader including a vertically-swingable boom, said boom comprising a pairof laterally-spaced, parallel arms disposed within the tread of the tractor, transversely-spaced, coaxial bearing means carried by said boom, a rock shaft journalled in said bearing means and provided, at its opposite ends, with internally polygonal sockets, a beam supported from said shaft and selectively extensible laterally outwardly beyond said tractor tread from either of said sockets, said beam conforming in cross-section to the internal contour of said sockets, power means for oscillating said shaft about the common axis of said bearing means, a ditcher head comprising a frame fixedly supported adjacent one end from the extended end of said beam, a sprocket journalled on said frame upon an axis substantially coincident with said common axis, a second sprocket journalled on said frame upon an axis parallel with but spaced from the axis of said first-named frame, a continuous ditcher chain trained over said sprockets, and a reversible motor supported from said frame at a point between the axes of said two sprockets and opera tively connected to one of said sprockets to drive said 2,772,011 chain. 2,798,315

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,710,466 Chartier June 14, 1955 6 Ferwerda Nov. 27, 1956 Gifford July 9, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia Jan. 17, 1951 Italy Dec. 18, 1953 

